The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-02
THE RECLAIMED LANDS.
Report OF the Committee on the Okeecho-
bee Drainage
CHAMBER.
Tallahassee May %.


City Monday. May %, 1887. and on Tues
day visited the reclaimed lands on Lake
| East Tohopekaliga-
We find this lake eight feet two inches
| below its original level with a handsome
| beach of firm white sand, three or four
hundred feet wide, hard and level, where
| formerly was seven or eight feet of wa
ter, a magnificent drive of some sew
enteen miles. We find the surrounding
marshes and cypress swamI,s are dry and
] ready for the pillow. On this lake are
| situated the thriving settlements of Mar
cossee, Runemede and st. Cloud, with
numerous other farms. notably that of
the Lupfer Bros All these lands are in
| the highest state of cultivation, with
handsome crops Of sugar cane, corn, po-
tatoes and various vegetables, all vigor-
GUS and thrifty.
The lands are exceedingly fertile and
though but recently freed from two to
four feet of standing water, are now
dry and fit for all crops of a temper
ate or sub-tropical climate. We find the
| muck soil composed of decayed veget-
able matterl from eighteen inches to nine
feet deep. AT st. Cloud your committee
4 saw growing ITO acres of sugar cane. lis
| acres of rice and 100 acres of corn all ex-
| ceedingly vigorous and forward: this on
| lando formerly covered with water perm
amently impossible for man or beast.
1
and from three to five feet deep and dry
| to the bottom, making a most perfect
| system of drainage. These lands, form
| erly utterly valueless. are now worth
hundreds of dollars per acre, and have
| added much to the material value of the
State. We find that crops of all kinds
| that have been planted have grown re-
markably well particularly vegetables
for early market, cabbage, caulifiower,
Irish potatoes. onions and Strawberries
being exceedingly thrifty and largely
| cultivated and shipped.
| At ST. Cloud we found 900 acres of
this land being rapidly put in shape for
an extensive sugar plantation, the in
tentiOn being to plant the present crop
of ITO acres, making $50 acres in cane.
Machinery to handle the product of 800
acres of cane has been purchased, and
contracts made to purchase all cane de-
livered at the mill at remunerative
prices.
On Wednesday your committee visited
the reclaimed lands on lakes Tohope-
kaliga, Cypress and Hatchinaha, stop
ping at the model farms of Lieut.. III. I.
Smith-Dorien. a. 5. Kinsman. and the
South Port farm. All these farms
are ON lands formerly permanently
inundated. and are now in a high state
of cultivation and improvement, with
| crops of corn. rice, tobacco, vegetables.
|
and other fruit trees, now in full fruit
| age. The peach orchard of A. ;. Kins-
| man, being particularly notable as grow
| ing upon former bog and now bearing
ITS second crop, though but three years
from its planting. Lieut.. III. L. Smith
Dorien's model farm (Hare's Foot FARM,
directly opposite Kissimmee City. is "a
model of neatness and high cultivation,
and the thrifty crops thereon testify to
the extreme fertility and value of the
reclaimed lands. We find from the record
kept by Lieut.. Smith DOrien that Lake
Tohopekaliga is now , feet 4 inches be-
low its level of May 1. 1886, and that the
total lowering of the lake has been seven
feet four inches. We submit herewith a
tabulated statement showing the annual
rainfall and average for fifteen years.
ending January, 1887. 1t shows the av-
erage rainfall for fifteen years has been
, fifty-six and one hundred fifty-six thou
sandths inches, and the average rainfall
: for the six years covering the period of
! | the operations of the Drainage Company
, to be tifty-siX and sixty-eight hun
. dredths inches, or .515 inches greater
> average for the whole period of fifteen
I | years. 1t also shows that the greatest
! rainfall for any year during the fifteen
years was i'm 1885, being sixty-eight and
! ninety-one hundredtlrs inches, thus cor
i recting the current report that drought
the operations of the Drainage Company.
when in fact greater annual and aver
| age rainfall has occurred during the
time the company has been at work than
r | for fifteen yeats past
I In conclusion, your committee would
I | say that the extreme fertility and I'M
r | mense value or the reclaimed lands can
: scarcely be estimated, and their sus-
\ ceptibility for profitable cultivation has
" been practically demonstrated by the
r crops now o them, and the statements
: of liable and well informed residents.
4 Sixty-five tons of ca re. seventy bushels
; of corn, seventy bushels of rice have
r been raised per acre ON the lands Nege-
: tables for the early Northern market
I are largely raised; caulifiowef, cabbage
I and unions are raised extensively. one
4 grower having sixty acres of cabbage
h last season. These crops are made en-
; tirely without fertilizers. The remark
. able adaptation of these lands for grow
y ing sugar cane is fully attested by the
r following report of Colonel l.. A. Brin
r gier. lately of Louisiana. chosen as al
expert by Northern capitalists to- repor
= upon the value of the drained land fo
sugar growing:
4 BAGATEIIE GROVE, LAKE HARBIT,
e SUMTER Co. FLA, Nav IL, 1887.
y Having been duly notified by Captain
i r. f. Rose that had been appointed t.
e inspect. as expert, and report ON thu
n adaptability of the reclaired lands of Uh,
= Okeechobee Drainage Company to tn,
It cultivation of the tropical sugar cane
It on the Sth inst. L inspected sew
+ eral hundred aces of said land. locates
l. on East Tohopekaliga Lake These re
l. claimed lands, which are covered will
deposits of muck (decayed vegetable
matter), varying from eighteen inche
to nine feet in depth, are susceptible o
thorough drainage. owing to the lower
~ ing of the water level of said lake, o
l. seven and a half feet, by TIN
:. drainage canals of the Okeechobee Com
n pany. The great fertility of these re
O claimed lands and their susceptibility O
o being thoroughly drained, make then
O the most desirable sugar lands that
l. have ever seen in my long experience o
v over thirty-six years a sugar planter
Is Another very impoI amt consideration il
h favor of the manufacturing of sugar il
is Kissimmee and OkeechObee Districts Il
Il the tropical climate of that section of tn
q peninsula, where killing frosts are o
5 very rare occurrence, which assures TIN
" manufacturer four months from No
n vember 1 to March u to manufacture
|. into sugar the raw material of a larg,
" area of cane fields. The grea
5 economy in fuel. the increased guam
q tity and superior quality of the 81
q gars obtained by commencing manufac
e turing operations after the cane has at
q tanned its full maturity. have been SD Of
N ten and satisfactorily proven by able ant
N most reliable sciel tists in Louisiana an,
Il West India Islands. that l will abstain
20 from further particulars on this point
IN From Information gathered from resi-
?, dents and non-interested parties, an,
Il personal observations, l find this re
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